10 Fast Facts About Quitting Smoking

• Quitting smoking is the single best thing smokers can do for their health.

• Twenty minutes after smoking your last cigarette, your blood pressure drops to a similar level to what you had prior to smoking your last cigarette.

• Eight hours after quitting, the level of carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) in your blood drops to normal.

• Twenty-four hours after quitting, your risk of having a heart attack starts to drop.

• Two weeks to three months after quitting, the airways in your lungs relax and you get more air and can breathe easier.

• One to nine months after quitting, you cough less and your lungs are even stronger.

• One year after quitting, your added risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker’s.

• Five years after quitting, your chances of having a stroke are the same as a non-smoker.

• 10 years after quitting, your chances of dying from lung cancer are much lower. So is your chance of getting cancer in your mouth, throat, oesophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas.

• 15 years after quitting, your risk of coronary heart disease is similar to that of a non-smoker.

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